Form, Affect and Debt in Post-Celtic Tiger Irish Fiction: Ireland in Crisis

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Based on readings of some of the leading literary voices in contemporary Irish writing, this book explores how these authors have engaged with the events of Irelands recent economic boom and the demise of the Celtic Tiger period, and how they have portrayed the widespread and contrasting aftermaths. Drawing upon economic literary criticism, affect theory in relation to shame and guilt, and the philosophy of debt, this book offers an entirely original suit of perspectives on both established and emerging authors. Through analyses of the work of writers including Donal Ryan, Anne Haverty, Claire Kilroy, Dermot Bolger, Deirdre Madden, Chris Binchy, Peter Cunningham, Justin Quinn, and Paul Murray, author Ein Flannery illuminates their formal and thematic concerns. Paying attention to generic and thematic differences, Flannerys analyses touch upon issues such as: the politics of indebtedness; temporality and narrative form; the relevance of affect theory to understandings of Irish culture and society in an age of austerity; and the relationship between literary fiction and the mechanics of high finance. Insightful and original, Form, Affect and Debt in Post-Celtic Tiger Irish Fiction provides a seminal intervention in trying to grasp the cultural context and the literature of the Celtic Tiger period and its wake.

Reviews

Eoin Flannerys Form, Affect and Debt in Post-Celtic Tiger Irish Fiction is a compelling study of the intimate relations between finance and fiction in the wake of the Celtic Tiger. Readers will be truly indebted to this subtle and enlightening study for many years to come. It is pleasingly elegant and playfully entertaining, and it offers a startling account of the tangled co-existence of wealth creation and creative writing. * Stephen Regan, Professor in the Department of English Studies, Durham University, UK *

Author Bio

Ein Flannery lectures in the Department of English Language and Literature at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland. He is the author of 4 books: Ireland and Ecocriticism: Literature, History, and Environmental Justice (2016); Colum McCann and the Aesthetics of Redemption (2011); Ireland and Postcolonial Studies: Theory, Discourse, Utopia (2009); and Versions of Ireland: Empire, Modernity and Resistance in Irish Culture (2006). His edited publications include: Enemies of Empire: New Perspectives on Literature, History and Imperialism (2007); Ireland in Focus: Film, Photography and Popular Culture (2009), and This Side of Brightness: Essays on the Fiction of Colum McCann (2012).